


Scenes From A Courtship

by DaniMeows



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, FS Rom Com Challenge, Fluff, Humor, pride and prejudice au, skye ward is mentioned but not really there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-10
Updated: 2016-09-10
Packaged: 2018-08-14 08:03:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8004991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaniMeows/pseuds/DaniMeows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Do you dance Mr. Fitz-Darcy?” she asked, half hoping for either a dance or a talking point. </p><p>Maybe Mr. Fitz-Darcy was shy and just needed someone else to start a friendly conversation?</p><p>“Not if I can help it,” Mr. Fitz-Darcy said harshly.</p><p>That decided it for Jemma. Mr. Fitz-Darcy of the ten thousand pounds a year with his fancy property in Perthshire, was clearly a poor and miserable soul.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scenes From A Courtship

**Author's Note:**

> My first manip! I hoped to be able to make one of Fitz but he’s much harder to manip onto Darcy’s body! 
> 
> Only Fitzsimmons and Ward and Skye have pride and prejudice characters in this one because I couldn’t find roles for the others to play that fit their personalities. Ward is only known as Ward Wickham because I didn’t want to hyphenate two names and I love the alliteration. 
> 
> Chapter 2 should hopefully be up sometimes next week and so on and so forth. This is draft number 14, it took me months to find my groove and I’m rather a slow writer.
> 
> According to the pride and prejudice wikia:  
> Mr Bennet has no immediate male heir, the estate is entailed upon his next closest male relative, Mr. Collins. While his current heir is his distant second(?) cousin, Mr. William Collins; but if, before his death, one of his daughters should be able to present him with a grandson, said-grandson would then become the new heir of the entailment over a distant cousin, by virtue of being his closest living male blood relative (this is likely why Mr. Collins' late father, Mr. Collins Sr., before his death, urged his son to 'mend the rift' with the Bennets; if his son were to be the husband of one of Mr. Bennet's daughters, it would reinforce Collins' claim to Longbourn, and furthermore if he were to be the father of said-grandson).

** **

**Chapter One: The Not So Meet Cute**

 

Leopold Fitz-Darcy was in a horrible mood. The last thing he wanted to do was go to an assembly. He was in a carriage on his way to one in a group. The party consisted of him, Mr. Bingley, Miss Caroline Bingley, and Mr and Mrs. Hurst - Bingley’s married sister and her husband. Caroline was trying to talk to Fitz about the gardens at his home, Pemberly. He wanted to be there, perhaps in his study with a new mechanical device to tinker with. Perhaps just reading other people's research, and deciding what he'd like to learn next. He’d recently found a good book about all the theories of Isaac Newton which he was longing to get to.

 

Fitz just knew that he didn't want to be here. He wasn’t in a good mood, and despite his best efforts he wasn’t suitable for company.

 

If he were home he'd know that his younger sister was okay. It had been  three months since she had been transformed from a shy but lively young girl into a heartbroken, nearly fearful shadow of herself. She had been seduced by Ward Wickham. Fitz wanted his former childhood friend dead for what he'd done, even if he had been his deceased father's beloved godson. Georgiana was the only family Fitz had left. It had been just the two of them for several years and her happiness meant everything to him.

 

Ward had very nearly ruined her in an attempt to get her dowry. Fitz had been so lucky that he'd come home early on that awful day and even luckier that Georgie had trusted him enough to tell him, despite Ward's attempts at convincing her to keep their potential elopement a secret. He'd been able to save his sister's reputation. But her face and her tears, after she found out that Ward wouldn't marry her if he couldn't get his hands on her dowry, haunted him to this day.

 

What if once again the governess he'd entrusted with Georgiana's care wasn't good enough? What if once more someone was helping a wastrel ruin his naive and innocent sister? Guilt ate away at him as he wondered if he could have done more to prevent his sister from harm.

 

However, Charles Bingley had asked him to come and see the land he was considering buying, and there was very little Fitz wouldn't do for his dear friend. He hadn't had very many friends at the university they had attended because he was shy, and tended to prefer his own company. A number of his peers did not understand his love of mechanical things or physics, especially his fascination with electricity. Most of them insisted that it would never yield anything useful. One day he hoped to run a successful experiment or two himself.  

 

First, however, he needed to ensure that he found a wife and have children, so that his family line was secure. He hoped to find a sister for Georgina soon, one who would help her navigate her official coming out, and all the commotion courtship could bring. He still had some time. Georgina had just turned fifteen years old last month and was too young and broken from Wickham’s actions to be out in society yet.

 

Georgie had practically pushed Fitz out of the house with a smile as she reassured him that she would be fine. That she knew better now. That she would not let anyone take advantage of her again. He also knew that he'd hired a far better and more recommended governess this time around. It was a good bit of distance between Netherfield Park in England and Pemberly in Perthshire, Scotland and on days like this Fitz felt all of the distance. His mother had been from England and his father was from Scotland and he was quite fond of both places.

 

But Fitz still didn't want to be here, in this town. He didn’t want to be here in this carriage or on his way to a party.  It was make all the worse by Miss Bingley's over the top and excessive flirting. Fitz tried to be polite but aloof and did his best to be curt, in the hopes that she would get the message that he wasn't at all interested in her.

 

Even now, she was trying to get his opinions on the orange dresses that were apparently coming into fashion. Fitz didn’t have an opinion on dresses. Or on dress colours. He wasn’t all that fond of the colour,  but he’d never tell Caroline that.  He didn’t want her to dress to please him, it’d only make her more aggressive in her pursuit of him. He wasn’t yet at the point of begging Charles to please get his sister to leave him alone, though with each encounter he got closer and closer to that point.

 

However, much like his Aunt's insistence that he court his cousin Anne, there was no sign it would stop, and persistent women kept on trying to bend him to their will. He knew that girls were encouraged to marry a rich man in order to ensure that they were kept in style, but he wanted someone who could really be his partner in all things.

 

Fitz realized they were getting closer to the event. He loathed social gatherings on a good day but today was not a good day. He tried to force himself to put on a cheerful face, but he had a feeling it appeared as more of a grimace. If Bingley was going to live here, Fitz would have to charm the neighbors, as Charles Bingley didn't need them deciding that he had bad taste in friends.

 

He preferred being called just Fitz, but when he was out in public it had to be Mr. Fitz-Darcy. He hated the Darcy part though not as much as he hated the Leopold part. He doubted anyone could make him like the name. Not even if he had a proper lady for a wife who could call him by his first name.

 

He pictured some of the women who'd tried to get his attention by calling him Leopold and shuddered. There was just no way to make Leopold sound good.

 

Fitz wanted to marry a woman who was clever, kind, with the right connections and status, who understood his interests and also found them fascinating. A woman he could respect and who could respect him. He wanted to be happy. He wanted a friend.

 

Fitz sighed as he got out of the carriage. He very much wanted to be elsewhere. Ideally either in his home library or the library in Netherfield Park, with a good book in his hand.

 

He had planned on just sitting out the party and watching from the sidelines, but this changed when she caught his eye. The woman across the ballroom had her chestnut hair pinned up elegantly. She was wearing a green gown, which seemed much brighter than what others were wearing, but fit her coloring well.  She was smiling brightly as she talked to a blonde girl. Her eyes were a bright shining brown. The girl was quite lovely.

 

If Fitz had been in a less than grumpy mood, he would’ve be interested in her at least long enough to hold a conversation with her.  During which, he could determine her character, if she was clever, and all the other things he desired in his ideal wife.  If he weren’t in such a bad mood, he'd interact with the assembly guests more.

 

Marriage was on his mind a lot lately. He had several cousins, but for the most part his family was just him and his sister.  He was under a lot of pressure from his aunts and uncles to find a wife soon and ensure that the Darcy line didn’t end.  However, much to his relatives dismay, he was quite opinionated on the type of wife he wanted, and he wasn’t going to marry the first willing girl with the right connections that came along. He wanted to marry for love, the way his parents had.

 

His parent’s love for one another had perhaps been why his father had died, not long after his wife died in childbirth. Why his father had sent him away to boarding school in London, and favored his godson over his son. Fitz looked far more like his mother in features than his father, and his father had been unable to look at him without his grief for his beloved wife intensifying.

 

If it wasn’t for the fact that he remembered many happy years when his mother was alive, this would give Fitz a negative view of love.  He wanted the partnership his parents had, along with happiness, for as long as he could have it.  Several of his aunts and uncles had married for reasons other than love and they were among the most unhappy people he knew. Maybe it was too much to hope for a marriage to a friend and partner, and his uncles were right when they told him that what his parents had once had was a rare miracle, but he wanted that rare miracle.

 

He knew what he was supposed to want in a wife, and he wanted all of that, but he also wanted a companion. Someone he could confide to, and who would find the academic subjects that he loved to study interesting enough to hold conversations with. Rather than a woman who was only interested in the few narrow subjects that society insisted they were allowed to know. Someone who wouldn't laugh at his interests and turn the subject to the latest news in dress fashions. Who wasn’t accomplished, although almost every girl these days was proclaimed accomplished.

 

Fitz’s group was introduced by a Mr. Lucas to many people all at once, a number of whom all had the surname Bennet. The girl who he’d found somewhat pretty and interesting was Miss Jemma Bennet. She had at least one older sister, the blonde girl that she had been laughing with before, and many other younger sisters.

 

He soon had her mother, Mrs Bennet, pegged as a matchmaking scheming women. The kind who plotted, and did whatever they could in order to ensure that their daughters landed the most eligible bachelors no matter what. She disgracefully simpered on about officers with her youngest daughters, who should not even be out yet, and bragged loudly and openly of her daughter’s accomplishments. Several of them looked to be either Georgiana’s age or perhaps younger.

 

Fitz hoped she didn't have her sights on entrapping either him or Charles. Charles had been his roommate at both the boarding school and university they had attended. They made an odd pair, but soon grew quite close.

 

Charles was open and honest about his feelings and had a very happy and generous nature. Fitz, on the other hand, had always been rather shy at first, it took a while to get to know others and he tended not to share his feelings very well, even with those who were close to him. Charles had a cheerful, happy nature, and was quite friendly to everyone, and Fitz protected him from the unscrupulous people by being cynical about human nature, whereas Charles encouraged Fitz to lighten up and take chances.

 

Both of them deeply respected each other's opinions and that’s why Fitz was here, despite his general dislike of social encounters like this.  Charles wanted his opinions on Netherfield Park and trusted Fitz’s opinion because Pemberley was a vast estate that he’d been managing with the help of his steward since he was sixteen years old.  

 

Fitz began making a mental list of all the things he’d need to keep in mind for helping Charles decide if this was the country estate of his dreams. Neighbors were an important thing to keep in mind. Bingley loved company and needed friendly good neighbors who weren’t likely to take advantage of his generous nature.

 

Clearly, the Bennets were not suitable company for Charles. And Miss Jemma Bennet would not be the sort of woman that Fitz could have a successful courtship and partnership with, if she were as empty headed as her other family members seemed to be.

 

Later on, Fitz stood next to Miss Jemma Bennet in the ballroom, prepared to brood until they could go back to Netherfield Park.  He’d only stood next to her because that was the nearest available space, and he could see and make his observations from here. Part of his mind was on the book he was reading, a very interesting book on scientific methods of discovery that he’d found on his travels from here to Pemberley.  

 

“Do you dance Mr. Darcy?” Miss Jemma asked.

 

“Not if I can help it,” Fitz replied. He really didn’t like dancing. His body moved awkwardly, and it was always hard to know suitable topics of conversation. Silence was deemed unacceptable by his dancing partners. He’d learned from experience that if he talked about what he’d read in the latest scientific journal, very few people would understand him, let alone want to talk of it. And he was never certain of what else he could talk about that people found interesting. As a result, he prefered to only dance with those he knew well enough, that there was some common area of interest that they could discuss.

 

Miss Jemma waited a few seconds awkwardly moving her hands back and forth. Her hands were in motion but her face spoke of boredom. Her eyebrows were raised and he wondered if he’d annoyed her a little bit with his curt response.

 

He realized that he probably should have been polite and asked her to dance, but it was too late to take back his statement and she was already wandering off to talk with her friend.

 

Later that evening, when Bingley was trying to get him to take an interest in someone to help him out of his shyness and grumpiness a bit, Fitz told him that Miss Jemma was tolerable but not handsome enough to tempt him. He hadn't meant it, but he didn't want to tell anyone that he'd found her pretty, especially with how awkward and uncouth other parts of her family seemed. He also bit out some harsh comments about how he didn’t want to dance with girls who had been slighted by other men and encouraged his friend to leave him be and to go back to dancing with the eldest Miss. Bennet.

 

Fitz was stressed due to worry for his sister. He hadn’t even told Charles what had happened, not because he didn’t think Charles could be trusted to keep Georgiana’s near complete ruination a secret, but out of fear of anyone overhearing. He was also stressed by the increasing pressure to find a wife from his aunts and uncles, who kept pointing out that he was of marriageable age and should get started.

 

He knew however, that it was no excuse for how he was treating his friend. Telling him to go back to the eldest Miss Bennet girl and and enjoy her smiles because he’s wasting his time with him, might have been a little to harsh to say to his friend who just wanted him to dance and be merry. One day Charles might give up trying to encourage him to enjoy social occasions, but today was not that day.

 

Miss Jemma wouldn't make a suitable sister for Georgiana, nor wife for him. Her family and clear lack of fortune made her utterly unsuitable; even if a miracle occurred and she wasn’t full of only the accomplishments that were considered suitable for a girl, and somehow wanted to talk about scientific breakthroughs and discoveries.

 

He’d then watched her dance, and had wished even more to be the one dancing with her, as her curls bounced and she smiled and laughed. Fitz was annoyed at the fact that he was annoyed, when he overheard her mother implying that only her eldest daughter was pretty. And he'd been annoyed at himself for regretting missing the chance to dance with her. He didn’t even understand why he was so frustrated.  He felt drawn towards watching her and he didn’t understand why.

 

She was somewhat pretty, but she wasn’t the prettiest girl he’d ever seen.  There were lovelier girls in the larger balls he was dragged to in London.

 

As he went to bed that night, he was stunned to realize that for a few hours he hadn’t thought of his beloved little sister or the trouble that had nearly happened to her.  The section of the letter he sent to his sister that discussed the events of the assembly ended up being long. Despite the fact that he hadn’t wanted to go to it, it took up almost a whole page, rather than just being a few short terse sentences. He didn’t even notice that most of that section was describing a girl in a green dress with a bright smile and pretty eyes.

 

* * *

  
  


Jemma Bennet was enjoying her evening with her family and neighbors. The Assembly was loud and lively and there was lots of laughter. She loved dancing, and looked forward to engaging in it later in the evening. Her mother, who was very anxious about them finding suitors lest their father die and they all end up in poverty, was talking very loudly about how beautiful her daughter Jane was. Jemma could hardly blame her mother.

 

Her parents had five children who'd lived to adulthood, but they'd all been girls. The only boys had died before they were two years old. None of her sisters could inherit Longbourn, and it weighed heavily on her mother's heart that none of her children would inherit their beloved home. Instead it would go to a distant cousin. If Jane, Jemma, or any of her sisters married well it would enable them to take care of their family if the worst should happen, before most of her sisters were married to good men. If however either Jemma or any of her sisters had a son by the time their father had died that child would inherit Longbourn rather than it being entailed away from the family.

 

Jemma had a hard time picturing Mary, her middle sister, as married. She loved sermons and playing the pianoforte. Her favorite book one of famous sermons, and she quoted from it endlessly. Jemma believed that if they were Catholic, Mary would be a nun, because religion was more her calling than almost anything else. Mary played the pianoforte but seldom practiced it for long and would always pick the longest pieces. Her mother referred to her as the plainest of her daughters, and tended to ignore her in favor of Skye and Jane. And since she had zero interest in books that weren’t the word of God or sermons, Mary didn’t have her father’s favor either.

 

Perhaps if they found her a pastor to marry or someone else who’d enjoy discussing scripture and hearing sermons quoted back to them every time they were doing something, Mary might wed. Sometimes Jemma wondered if Mary remembered that she’d once had a twin brother, James, until she was almost two, and if that was why she was so serious.

 

Catherine, or Kitty, as she was called, was Jemma’s next youngest sibling. While she didn’t directly have her mother’s favor, she was always in Skye’s presence and since Skye was their mother’s favorite, as a result she often had her mother’s attention. Kitty was interested in whatever Skye was interested in, and loved ribbons. She was always buying ribbons with her pin money and would put them on everything. She could read but hated to do so, and tended to throw herself into sewing projects with a lot of enthusiasm.  Despite being two full years older than Skye, Skye was the one in control, and Kitty followed where she lead.

 

Skye, her youngest sister, was bit of a brat but Jemma loved her very much. The youngest of all the siblings and the last of her mother’s pregnancies, Skye was doted upon by their mother. The loss of both the heirs of Longbourn had happened the year before Skye was born and Mrs Bennet had been changed by the loss of both James and Alexander.  In a way, they all had been changed, prior to that her mother had been less facetious and her father had been less prone to make it clear that he felt that he was married to the Silliest Woman in all of England.

 

Skye was curious. She wanted to know what everyone was up to, and she didn’t know there was such a thing as a secret unless it benefited her. Her main dream was to be the first sister married despite being the youngest. Like Kitty, she’d been taught to read but she took no pleasure in it. She too loved buying ribbons and small things to make changes to her dresses.  She took a special interest in the nearby Militia, and loved the sight of a man in uniform.

 

Jane, Jemma’s older sister, was Jemma’s favorite. She was only two years older than Jemma and they were best friends. They shared a room and were always whispering secrets into well into the night. Jane was shy and tended to be quite reserved in showing her feelings, even to her family members. She was the most kind and compassionate of them all. She refused to think anything bad of anyone and always wanted to think the best of everyone. It was Jane who Jemma feared might marry a man she didn’t love just ensure that the family was secure in the event that their papa died. Jemma’s hopes were that Jane could marry for love, without feeling pressured to marry just to ensure their future.

 

Jemma’s mother tended to be loud and obsessive about her girls landing husbands. Jemma had vague memories of her mother being less prone to having fits of nerves and hysterics, but for the most part her mother had been this way since Jemma was about six years old. After the death of James and Alexander from scarlet fever, Jemma’s mother had been obsessed with them marrying well, with visions of them all being tossed in the hedgerows by the horrible Collinses if they failed to find husbands before her father’s inevitable death. Her mother also dreamed that if they were all married soon, there would be many grandsons able to survive into adulthood and inherit the estate.

 

As a result, her mother had been very excited by the news that an eligible bachelor with a large fortune of four to five thousand pounds a year was moving into Netherfield Park. She’d begun saying that if she could get them all married off and one of them happily settled at Netherfield she’d have nothing else to wish for.  Jemma suspected that it was Jane or Skye that her mother wanted ensconced in Netherfield and thus always kept close by so Jemma’s mother didn’t lose them to distance when they married.

 

If it wasn’t for her father, Jemma would dread being forced into marrying the first man who came to call, but Jemma knew that her father (who doted upon her and Jane) would not force any of them into a marriage they did not want. No matter how much her mother might wish it.

 

Jemma was quite close to her father, a man with sarcastic wit and a rather hands off approach to parenting.  He loved to spend most of his time in the library reading his books or playing chess. Jemma adored playing chess with him or sitting next to him discussing her thoughts on the different books that she read. Her father loved wit and sarcasm and found great enjoyment in teasing her mother who often times didn’t get the joke.  He took great joy in teaching Jemma mathematics, biology, and chemistry even though it was not considered a suitable subject for a girl to learn. He’d tell her everything he remembered from the lectures he’d attended at the university years ago. Mr Bennet had always encouraged her to study anything and everything that interested her, much to her mother's dismay, because her mother felt that being too smart would hinder Jemma's ability to get married.

 

She had a plan she'd only told him about. If in the next two years, she failed to find a man that she could both love and respect (Jemma knew that she couldn’t marry someone that she thought was foolish if she was expected to obey him) then Jemma would become a midwife. She really longed to be a doctor, but women were not allowed to enter such a profession, so she'd be a midwife. At least she'd be able to justify studying anatomy books, and she’d be allowed to tend to others.

 

She remembered that awful year that her brothers had been ill. She’d watched the doctor attend to them and she’d been fascinated ever since by the idea of being able to help make others better. Even if sometimes there was nothing that could be done to save lives.

 

Everything came down to looks and marriage in her mother's book. Part of Jemma was hurt each time her mother insisted that only Jane and her youngest sister, Skye, were pretty. She didn't want to be described in the poetic language some of Jane's previous suitors had used or anything, but she'd like to be considered beautiful as well. Both by her mother and by any potential suitors.

 

Mr. Lucas, her neighbor and the father of one of her dearest friends (the other being her older sister Jane), introduced her and most of her family to Mr Bingley, his sisters, and Mr Fitz-Darcy. Mr Bingley was charming, and asked Jane to dance almost immediately after introductions. He had a big smile and seemed to have an easygoing nature.

 

Jemma wasn't certain how she felt about Mr. Fitz-Darcy. He was almost scowling, though he had pretty blue eyes, a handsome face, and curly hair. If it wasn't for the scowling, Jemma would find him quite attractive. His accent was Scottish and Jemma liked the way it sounded.

They were standing side by side as Jemma had been forced to sit out a dance or two, for there were not enough gentlemen dancing.

 

“Do you dance Mr. Fitz-Darcy?” she asked, half hoping for either a dance or a talking point. Maybe Mr. Fitz-Darcy was shy and just needed someone else to start a friendly conversation?

 

“Not if I can help it,” Mr. Fitz-Darcy said harshly.

 

That decided it for Jemma. Mr. Fitz-Darcy of the ten thousand pounds a year with his fancy property in Perthshire, was clearly a poor and miserable soul. No wonder that despite his income, her neighbors already found him overly prideful and thought him one of the most disagreeable men in the world.

 

Jemma wiggled back and forth awkwardly for a moment wondering if she could go to her friend Charlotte without being too rude. He clearly desired neither dance nor conversation. Jemma did not want to just stand around their idly waiting for him to either say something to her, or for their time spent standing next to one another to end. It was a shame that despite having such a lovely sounding voice and attractive face the man was so unpleasant..

 

Charlotte was still standing near the other side of the ballroom and Jemma walked towards her lifeline, grabbing her friend's hands. They moved towards a hidden space behind a tapestry that they knew about, where you could observe all the comings and goings on while still being in a quiet and private enough space that you could whisper secrets without being overheard.

 

Jemma took great delight in seeing the smile on Jane's face as she danced. Her oldest sister was terribly shy and not very open with her feelings, but Jemma could see how much her sister seemed to be enjoying the dance. Jemma knew her mother would be almost too embarrassing with her enthusiasm. Jemma prepared herself to recite how much she loved her, while remembering all the moments her mother was warm and compassionate in her head. She just wished her mother had more composure in public.

 

That was when the moment, as Jemma would’ve called it in her diary (if she still kept one) in all capital letters, happened. Jemma had decided against diary keeping after Skye had decided that no one but her was allowed secrets and had snooped around, read her diary, and spilled all of her secrets at dinnertime. Her parents had done nothing about the invasion of privacy Skye kept committing, so writing down her thoughts and feelings was no longer ideal. She did keep a record of the books she read, what she learned from them, and since Skye detested learning things being more interested in dances, balls, and books, it irritated her youngest sister greatly.

 

Mr. Bingley and Mr. Fitz-Darcy were walking by. Mr. Bingley was singing Jane's praises, calling her an angel. Jemma smiled at Charlotte, glad that a suitor was recognizing her older sister's charm and goodness. He then spent time cajoling his friend into dancing.

 

 _“_ I certainly shall not. You know how I detest it, unless I am particularly acquainted with my partner. At such an assembly as this it would be insupportable. Your sisters are engaged and there is not another woman in the room whom it would not be a punishment to stand up with _,”_ Mr Fitz-Darcy said.

 

Mr. Bingley then referred to her as very pretty… which nearly made Jemma smile. Until he tried to encourage Mr Fitz-Darcy to dance with her.  She didn’t want to dance with a man, no matter how handsome he may be, who thought that dancing with her was a punishment. On the contrary, dancing with him would be a punishment.  He was rude and arrogant.

 

The loathsome Mr. Fitz-Darcy then said “She is tolerable but not handsome enough to tempt me; I am in no humor at present to give consequence to young ladies who have been slighted by other men…”

 

Jemma was mortified. It was one thing for her mother to act like only her youngest and eldest girls were pretty, but for that rude arrogant man to imply that she wasn't handsome really irritated her for some reason. She was more certain than ever that the half of Perthshire that he owned was the miserable half.

 

“Just be glad he doesn't like you, Jemma, then you might have to talk to him,” Charlotte pointed out. Jemma laughed and her good mood was somewhat restored. She continued to enjoy her evening, and looked forward to telling her older sister all about the conversation she’d overheard between Mr. Bingley and the odious Mr. Fitz-Darcy.

 

Jemma was convinced that, even if Mr. Fitz-Darcy was a handsome man, she didn’t like him at all.


End file.
